Shared Services Canada: Main Estimates narratives: Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates—April 29, 2022

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Funding for Workload Modernization and Migration Program

Main Estimates: $166,902,314 in 2022 to 2023

Funding profile

Table 1: Funding in fiscal year 2022 to 2023 (in millions of dollars)
Fiscal year 2022 to 2023
Main Estimates 166.9

Summary

Shared Services Canada is seeking access to $101,232,250 (vote 1—operating expenditures), $65,670,064 (vote 5—capital) in 2022 to 2023 for the Workload Modernization and Migration (WLM) Program.

Purpose of the funding

This funding will allow Shared Services Canada (SSC) to continue the work started to incorporate refined processes as departments develop modernization and migration plans, with a focus on moving applications being stored in older data centres to modern and more stable hosting environments.

Background

The Workload Modernization and Migration Program was initiated in 2018 and aims to enable secure and stable hosting solutions for the Government of Canada (GC) information technology (IT) infrastructure, and therefore, support GC digital operations.

The modernization of the GC’s IT infrastructure, and specifically the moving of applications from at-risk data centres to modern hosting solutions—either the cloud or enterprise data centers (EDC)—is key to enabling the digital vision. The GC’s Cloud Adoption Strategy requires that departments consider cloud as their first option for delivering applications and IT services. Where cloud is not a viable option, an EDC can be used to house applications.

To support this GC priority, the WLM Program focuses on moving applications being stored in older data centres, to modern, more stable hosting environments. This means both moving applications and data to cloud solutions, or to modern EDCs. The WLM Program enables proactive work that aims to avoid data centre failure and to store the GC’s applications in safe and reliable environments. It is anticipated that the Budget 2021 funding will support closing approximately 110 to 115 of the remaining 372 legacy data centres.

While the WLM Program enables all aspects of the GC Digital Strategy, it specifically supports the modernization of GC workloads in order to stabilize and improve the systems that support programs and deliver services to Canadians.

Since the WLM Program’s inception, it has made headway on the several projects in accordance with the SSC Project Governance Framework. The wave 1 projects include:

The wave 2 projects for which Budget 2021 funding will help support include:

Office of Primary Interest

Louis-Paul Normand
(Senior) Assistant Deputy Minister
Project Management and Delivery Branch
Shared Services Canada

Funding for Information Technology Repair and Replacement Program

Main Estimates: $97,502,590 in 2022 to 2023

Funding profile

Table 2: Funding in fiscal year 2022 to 2023 (in millions of dollars)
Fiscal year 2022 to 2023
Main Estimates 97.5

Summary

Shared Services Canada is seeking access to $43,764,340 (vote 1—operating expenditures), $53,738,250 (vote 5—capital) in 2022 to 2023 for the Information Technology Repair and Replacement (ITRR) Program.

Purpose of the funding

This funding will allow SSC to replace aging IT assets that are at end-of-life, or end-of-support by priority and narrow the gap to meet optimal asset refresh levels. This 3-year time period will allow SSC to fully assess the ITRR Program’s future requirements, which will factor in consolidation and cloud adoption rates.

Background

The ITRR Program initially focused on the cyclical replacement of aging IT infrastructure to support the government’s ongoing legacy environments. The program covers 3 interdependent streams of activities:

In fiscal year 2018 to 2019, SSC presented the first submission under the ITRR Program to Treasury Board (TB) requesting the funding for the first 2 key streams of activities. The third stream was presented in a separate TB submission.

In fiscal year 2019 to 2020, SSC requested funding to support the application of IT refresh, which allows for a proactive approach in the lifecycle management of assets. The ultimate outcomes of the ITRR Program are:

The November 2020 Speech from the Throne underscored the need for the GC to make “generational investments” in updating outdated IT systems to modernize the way it provides services to Canadians. In response to the COVID‑19 pandemic, the Prime Minister reemphasized the Minister of Digital Government’s mandate to lead the GC’s transition to a more digital government to improve services to Canadians. In fiscal year 2021 to 2022, SSC presented the ITRR Program submission to TB requesting the 3-year funding approved through Budget 2021 to improve planning, proactively address the GC’s outdated IT equipment, and strengthen the GC’s abilities to adapt to rapidly changing digital requirements and prevent system failures and service outages. During this 3‑year period, SSC will be updating its IT asset refresh requirements (including the impact of cloud adoption) so that it can return with a fulsome assessment of its future funding requirements.

Office of Primary Interest

Greg McKay
(Senior) Assistant Deputy Minister
Operations Management Branch
Shared Services Canada

Funding for secure cloud enablement and defence evolution and departmental connectivity and monitoring initiative

Main Estimates: $79,194,229 in 2022 to 2023

Funding profile

Table 3: Funding in fiscal year 2022 to 2023 (in millions of dollars)
Fiscal year 2022 to 2023
Main Estimates 79.2

Summary

Shared Services Canada is seeking access to $56,344,448 (vote 1—pperating expenditures), $22,849,781 (vote 5—capital) in 2022 to 2023 for secure cloud enablement and defence evolution (SCED) and departmental connectivity and monitoring initiative (Budget 2021).

Purpose of the funding

This funding for the secure cloud enablement and defence evolution and departmental connectivity and monitoring initiative will support the enhancement of the reliability and security of Government of Canada information technology networks.

This funding will also support the secure cloud to ground (SC2G) operational activities, thereby allowing SSC to deliver up to protected B secure cloud connectivity to partner departments.

Background

SCED provides an essential, enabling piece of the GC’s security posture by providing secure cloud access for up to protected B data and workloads. SCED is comprised of 2 elements: the dedicated direct connectivity pathways from the GC network to the cloud, and the associated security. The SCED project has enabled the SCED evolution initiative as the project successfully implemented and tested secure connectivity and piloted onboarding pathfinder departments. The SCED project was conceived to support critical GC operations and promote IT modernization, including the Cloud First Strategy.

Through monitoring, and automated defence, CSE provides an essential element of the SCED’s security posture. These functions were tested as part of the SCED project and will now be deployed enterprise-wide as part of the SCED evolution initiative.

Secure cloud enablement and defence evolution: Secure cloud to ground

SSC’s SC2G initiative is the operational activity responsible for the enterprise-wide enablement of SCED. In order to enable SCED enterprise‑wide, the security capacity at the Montreal and Toronto The Royal Canadian Hussars (RCH)s has to be increased to match the network capacity of 100 gigabit per second (Gbps), the Vancouver RCH must be established (at a capacity of 40Gbps) and the virtual cloud access security perimeter must be deployed enterprise‑wide. Additionally, the SC2G initiative includes the accelerated onboarding of the SSC’s remaining partner departments onto SCED.

These funds will support the SC2G operational activities and thereby support SSC in delivering secure cloud connectivity to partner departments.

In fiscal year 2022 to 2023, SSC will continue to onboard client departments to the SCED infrastructure, enabling them to manage data and workloads in the cloud up to a protected B level.

Departmental connectivity: Enterprise internet services

SSC’s Enterprise Internet Services (EIS) provide GC organizations with internet connectivity leveraging the access points at the RCHs (in Montreal, Toronto, and soon in Vancouver), as well as at the internet-only sites in the National Capital Region (NCR). EIS provide enterprise‑level connectivity to the internet as well as standardized service levels and service management processes, including security monitoring and enhanced security controls. Additionally, the internet exchange point (IXP) solution, which also leverages the RCHs and NCR sites, provides dedicated connectivity to specific sites and applications (for example social media sites and Microsoft Office 365) thereby alleviating traffic from the conventional internet access point.

In fiscal year 2022 to 2023, SSC will address needs at the various RCHs including in-line distributed denial of service (DDoS) protection, additional dark fibre for capacity and the merging of the optical rings for efficiency, develop redundancy within the NCR hubs to increase the availability target of the EIS and provide for the ongoing needs of the hub in Vancouver. In addition, SSC will arrange for cloud-based DDoS for all hubs, bolstering the in-line DDoS capabilities and providing upwards of 1 terabit per second worth or protection and some legacy equipment both on the network backbone and at Statistics Canada require replacement.

Office of Primary Interest

Patrice Nadeau
Assistant Deputy Minister
Network and Security Services Branch
Shared Services Canada

Funding for the Next Generation Human Resources and Pay Solution

Main Estimates: $63,205,561 in 2022 to 2023

Funding profile

Table 4: Funding in fiscal year 2022 to 2023 (in millions of dollars)
Fiscal year 2022 to 2023
Main Estimates 63.2

Summary

Shared Services Canada is seeking access to $63,205,561 (vote 1—operating expenditures) for the Next Generation Human Resources and Pay initiative (NextGen HR and Pay).)

Purpose of the funding

This funding will support the ongoing NextGen HR and Pay initiative.

The NextGen HR and Pay initiative is exploring options for a future human resource (HR) and pay solution that meets user needs and follows modern people management processes. The initiative is looking at user-centric, accessible, and enterprise cloud-based solutions that will meet the complex needs of the Government of Canada now and into the future. Work is underway with the government HR and pay communities to modernize and streamline HR and pay processes to align with commercially available software. An interim findings report is planned for fall 2022 and final recommendations are expected to be delivered in 2023.

Background

Budget 2018 announced the GC commitment to addressing the ongoing challenges of the Phoenix pay system, including its intention to eventually move away from Phoenix and begin developing the next generation of the federal government's HR and pay system. To this end, an investment of $16 million was provided to the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS) over 2 years to work with experts, federal public sector unions and technology providers on a way forward for a new integrated HR and pay system. With this funding, TBS was able to complete an agile procurement process in consultation with a wide array of stakeholders, including public servants from across the country, other government departments, bargaining agents, and technology providers, ultimately identifying 3 vendors who have been pre-qualified to meet the needs of the GC for an HR and pay solution.

Budget 2019 reaffirmed the GC’s commitment by announcing the next step in working with vendors and stakeholders to explore the best options, including pilot projects that will allow for further testing with select departments and agencies while assessing the feasibility and ability of vendors to deliver. Additional funding was not provided at that time, as further analysis was required to determine the costs associated with these activities.

In May 2019, after this analysis was completed, TBS submitted an off-cycle funding proposal for further testing through pilot projects, seeking $113.1M in new funding over 3 years.

The NextGen HR and Pay initiative resided within TBS until April 2020 when it was transferred to SSC. SSC then accessed the $113.1M available in the fiscal framework.

In 2022 to 2023, NextGen HR and Pay is leveraging the funding for the following:

Office of Primary Interest

Shereen Benzvy Miller
Assistant Deputy Minister
Next Generation Human Resources and Pay
Shared Services Canada

Funding for core information technology services and direct costs in support of partner-led projects initiatives

Main Estimates: $47,298,392 in 2022 to 2023

Funding profile

Table 5: Funding in fiscal year 2022 to 2023 (in millions of dollars)
Fiscal year 2022 to 2023
Main Estimates 47.3

Summary

Shared Services Canada is seeking access to $47,298,392 (vote 1—operating expenditures) in 2022 to 2023 for core information technology services and direct costs in support of partner-led projects/initiatives.

Purpose of the funding

This funding is to support two items: providing new government full-time equivalents (FTE) with core IT services ($44.1M) and for the direct costs in support of a partner-led initiative ($3.2M), which includes standardized network services, procuring software and hardware for workplace technology devices, and providing technology-related services.

Background

Budget 2016 required for SSC partner organizations to include a request in their funding proposals an amount for a suite of standard SSC services that are required to support any new / renewed FTEs - $700 per FTE.

For Federal Budget 2021 proposals and onward, following an assessment of past funding levels and associated costs, Department of Finance directed that SSC’s partners include an amount equal to 4% for new/renewed FTE salary costs to cover certain ongoing IT services costs.

The standard suite of services has evolved over time with changing IT technology and as SSC moves to an enterprise suite of services. The change from $700 per FTE to 4% of FTE salary costs is anticipated to generate a more appropriate level of funding aligned to the true cost of providing these services.

Partners are the 43 government departments for which SSC is mandated to manage IT infrastructure services related to email, data centres and telecommunications.

SSC will receive funding to support the IT requirements related to the 2021 to 2023 Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) Immigration Levels Plan.

The process for SSC to access funds that have been centrally withheld is through the annual estimates process. It represents an accumulation of Treasury Board decisions taken throughout the fiscal year for partner organizations which have FTE implications, and also for partner organizations who have specific IT service requests.

Office of Primary Interest

Samantha Hazen
Chief Financial Officer
Chief Financial Officer Branch
Shared Services Canada

Funding for cyber and information technology security initiatives

Main Estimates: $37,578,636 in 2022 to 2023

Funding profile

Table 6: Funding in fiscal year 2022to 2023 (in millions of dollars)
Fiscal year 2022 to 2023
Main Estimates 37.6

Summary

Shared Services Canada is seeking access to $37,578,636 (vote 1—operating expenditures) in 2022 to 2023 for 2 cyber and IT security initiatives.

Purpose of the funding

The funding will support the continuation of the endpoint visibility, awareness and security (EVAS) project ($34.8M), which will provide the Government of Canada with modern endpoint visibility, awareness and security capabilities, adapted to today’s rapidly changing information technology landscape. These funds will also support the operational phase of the Internal credential authentication service (ICAS) solution, GCPass, ($2.8M), a new digital identity management service that ensures applications are only accessed by those with the appropriate clearance.

Background

The ICAS project began under SSC’s authorities in 2015. Formerly known as enterprise management of internal credentials, ICAS received funding set aside in Budget 2015 to address cyber security vulnerabilities in government systems, and ongoing funding set aside in the 2017 fall economic statement.

Now that ICAS has been completed, SSC is seeking to draw down the remaining funding from the 2017 fall economic statement to deploy and support the GCPass solution.

ICAS requires ongoing funding for vendor costs supporting a recently-implemented centralized credential brokering service with appropriate security controls and measures in place (for example, policies, procedures, and auditing). A centralized credential brokering service is an anonymous authentication service that provides end users with credentials (such as usernames and passwords to access GC IT infrastructure). It will improve user experience and efficiency by providing GC workers with a standard and consistent authentication process to access all applications with fewer passwords to manage.

ICAS will deliver an internal authentication functionality that supports centralized authentication to internal GC applications to modernize and enhance GC’s internal authentication services. ICAS has created the platform called GCPass—to enable the credential management within the GC and can be leveraged for SSC’s transition to zero trust.

EVAS will improve the near real-time visibility, awareness and security posture of endpoint devices (for example, desktops, laptops, tablets and servers), providing the GC with the ability to discover rogue endpoints across its network, have visibility and evaluate the posture (vulnerability detection and response management) of each endpoint and replace existing anti-virus software with modern capabilities.

Since 2018, the EVAS project team has engaged several organizations to refine its requirements and began the cyber security procurement vehicle process. In 2019, the team developed a high-level implementation plan, which was further refined in 2021 to include detailed timelines for implementation, finalized the project management and human resources plan for implementation, and completed the high-level design including a concept of operations and other project artifacts.

The EVAS project is targeted for devices and networks up to protected B. Once the procurement is complete, SSC will have established an EVAS enterprise procurement vehicle for 3 distinct EVAS capabilities:

Office of Primary Interest

Patrice Nadeau
Assistant Deputy Minister
Network and Security Services Branch
Shared Services Canada

Funding for cyber and information technology security initiatives (Budget 2018)

Main Estimates: $31,175,255 in 2022 to 2023

Funding profile

Table 7: Funding in fiscal year 2022 to 2023 (in millions of dollars)
Fiscal year 2022 to 2023
Main Estimates 31.2

Summary

Shared Services Canada is seeking access to $24,443,133 (vote 1—operating expenditures) and $6,732,122 (vote 5—capital) in 2022 to 2023 for cyber and IT security initiatives.

Purpose of the funding

This funding is to support the implementation of the Government of Canada secret infrastructure (GCSI) project expansion ($30.2M) for a secure, reliable and cost effective solution for Government of Canada classified information that is available government-wide.

This funding is also for the expanded small departments and agencies (SDA) study ($1M) to further analyze the connectivity of SDAs to SSC-managed internet and cloud access.

This funding will contribute to delivering reliable and secure common IT infrastructure by transitioning away from individual departmental infrastructure to modern enterprise networks, using the latest devices, applications, and security measures that better protect governmental information.

Background

The GC requires a modern, reliable, and secure IT environment. With increasingly sophisticated cyber threats and attacks, the cyber IT security landscape must constantly evolve in order to respond to and secure IT infrastructure and architectures from these threats. The IT industry is leading the way with new tools and services, and SSC is leveraging this work to secure the GC’s IT infrastructure from these potential cyber security incidents.

Together known as the IT Security Tripartite, SSC, in collaboration with the Communications Security Establishment (CSE) and the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat’s Office of the Chief Information Officer (TBS-OIO), has been working on several distinct but interrelated projects to improve the GC’s cyber security posture. This includes the GCSI expansion project. Additionally, SSC is expanding the 2018 SDA study aiming to improve their security posture and explore how to connect them to the GC backbone provided by SSC.

The GCSI project and the SDA study support the identification of core and at-risk IT systems and platforms, and lead the renewal of SSC so that it is aligned to deliver reliable and secure common IT infrastructure by transitioning away from individual departmental infrastructure to modern enterprise networks, using the latest devices, applications, and security measures that better protect governmental information. This project and study are also an integral part of SSC’s mandate and priorities as set out in SSC 3.0: An enterprise approach, linked most closely to the “Network and Security” priority.

Office of Primary Interest

Patrice Nadeau
Assistant Deputy Minister
Network and Security Services Branch
Shared Services Canada

Funding for collective agreements

Main Estimates: $19,187,542 in 2022 to 2023

Funding profile

Table 8: Funding in fiscal year 2022 to 2023 (in millions of dollars)
Fiscal year 2022 to 2023
Main Estimates 19.2

Summary

Shared Services Canada is seeking access to $19.2 million (vote 1—operating expenditures) in 2022 to 2023 to cover collective agreements and compensation allocations.

Purpose of the funding

This funding is for the collective agreement approved wage rate increases for the Computer Systems (CS) group.

Background

SSC received funding through the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat central vote 1 for in‑year and retroactive compensation for the CS group as a result of adjustments made to terms and conditions of service or employment of the federal public administration.

The amounts represent the required funding for future years, which is distributed to organizations through their reference levels for the above-mentioned agreements.

Office of Primary Interest

Samantha Hazen
Chief Financial Officer
Chief Financial Officer Branch
Shared Services Canada

Funding for Employee Benefit Plan rate for legal services

Main Estimates: $88,493 in 2022 to 2023

Funding profile

Table 9: Funding in fiscal year 2022 to 2023 (in millions of dollars)
Fiscal year 2022 to 2023
Main Estimates 0.1

Summary

Shared Services Canada is seeking access to $88,493 (vote 1—operating expenditures) for the implementation of the comprehensive Employee Benefit Plan (EBP) rate of 27% for legal services.

Purpose of the funding

This funding is for the implementation of the comprehensive EBP rate of 27% for legal services.

This new funding is to ensure that SSC has adequate resources to sustain the rate increase charged by the Department of Justice (DOJ) for legal services.

Background

Budget 2021 granted funding for the implementation of the comprehensive EBP rate of 27% for legal services provided by DOJ effective April 1, 2022.

This new funding is to ensure that SSC has adequate resources to sustain the rate increase charged by the DOJ for legal services. There is no fiscal impact to this technical adjustment as the amount collected in EBP by the DOJ from client departments is returned to the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

Office of Primary Interest

Samantha Hazen
Chief Financial Officer
Chief Financial Officer Branch
Shared Services Canada

Travel reduction

Main Estimates: ($950,000) in 2022 to 2023

Funding profile

Table 10: Funding in fiscal year 2022 to 2023 (in millions of dollars)
Fiscal year 2022 to 2023
Main Estimates (1.0)

Summary

Shared Services Canada will reduce its operating vote an ongoing amount of ($1.0 million) in support of the Budget 2021 proposal to reduce travel budgets across the GC.

Purpose of the reduction

This reduction to SSC’s operating vote is a Budget 2021 measure to reflect that travel costs have decreased due to a greater reliance on digital and virtual interaction.

Background

COVID-19 has significantly affected the way the federal government operates, with a greater reliance on digital and virtual interaction, reducing the need to travel.

These savings will be in the interests of Canadian taxpayers and will offset increased costs and requirements related to the pandemic, particularly upgrades to Government of Canada information technology systems.

Office of Primary Interest

Samantha Hazen
Chief Financial Officer
Chief Financial Officer Branch
Shared Services Canada

Transfer from various other government departments for the Government of Canada information technology enterprise service model

Main Estimates: $158,819,418 in 2022 to 2023

Transfer profile

Table 11: Funding in fiscal year 2022 to 2023 (in millions of dollars)
Fiscal year 2022 to 2023
Main Estimates 158.8

Summary

Transfer from other government departments (OGD) to Shared Services Canada of $158,819,418 (vote 1—operating expenditures) for the GC information technology enterprise service model (ESM).

Purpose of the transfer

This transfer will support the implementation of the GC IT ESM, an enterprise approach for managing IT services. The Government of Canada is implementing the GC IT ESM to enable enterprise IT-focused decision-making structures and processes, introduce enterprise IT service standards, enhance IT planning, and provide predictable and stable government IT infrastructure funding.

The implementation of the GC IT ESM will appropriate enterprise services to SSC, while SSC will continue to cost recover for department specific services.

Background

Government of Canada information technology enterprise service model

SSC was established in 2011 to help provide a more consistent approach to IT services. The creation of SSC centralized the provisioning of services, but it did not standardize them.

To move to an enterprise approach for managing IT services, the Government of Canada is implementing the GC IT ESM to enable enterprise IT-focused decision-making structures and processes, introduce enterprise IT service standards, enhance IT planning, and provide predictable and stable government IT infrastructure funding.

The implementation of the ESM will appropriate enterprise services to SSC and SSC will continue cost recovery for other department specific services. The net impact of these changes in funding will therefore reduce SSC’s vote netted revenue (VNR), and requires an offsetting increase in its appropriation.

Office of Primary Interest

Samantha Hazen
Chief Financial Officer
Chief Financial Officer Branch
Shared Services Canada

Transfer from Public Services and Procurement Canada for data centre consolidations

Main Estimates: $2,410,206 in 2022 to 2023

Transfer profile

Table 12: Funding in fiscal year 2022 to 2023 (in millions of dollars)
Fiscal year 2022 to 2023
Main Estimates 2.4

Summary

Transfer from Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) to Shared Services Canada of $2,410,206 (vote 1—operating expenditures) for data centre consolidations.

Purpose of the transfer

Under an agreement with PSPC, SSC receives the amount for power and space savings achieved from the closure of data centres, less the identified decommissioning costs PSPC has forecasted it will incur for fiscal year 2021 to 2022.

Background

This initiative is aligned to the Government of Canada IT Strategic Plan and to SSC’s role and responsibility to deliver a modern, secure, and reliable IT infrastructure for the digital delivery of programs and services to Canadians.

This initiative also responds to the findings of the auditor general’s report tabled in the fall of 2015 regarding the progress made by SSC in the first 2 years of its creation to implement the key elements of its Transformation Plan while maintaining the operations of existing GC IT infrastructure services.

Specifically, this initiative addresses:

The initiative also aligns with GC’s priority to protect and secure the integrity of GC networks, systems and information, in order for Canadians to be confident that their personal and program information are secure and private.

Through data centre consolidation, SSC will close several hundred legacy data centres in PSPC custodial space and consolidate into fewer, more efficient locations administered by SSC. This is the eighth year of SSC data centre closures.

Office of Primary Interest

Jacquie Manchevsky
Assistant Deputy Minister
Data Centre Services Branch
Shared Services Canada

Transfer from Correctional Services Canada for the administrative services review

Main Estimates: $234,373 in 2022 to 2023

Transfer profile

Table 13: Funding in fiscal year 2022 to 2023 (in millions of dollars)
Fiscal year 2022 to 2023
Main Estimates 0.2

Summary

Permanent transfer from Correctional Services Canada (CSC) to Shared Services Canada of $234,373 (vote 1—operating expenditures) related to the Administrative Services Review (ASR).

Purpose of the transfer

This is a permanent transfer from CSC for amounts previously invoiced related to the ASR, which will now be received through a permanent reference level transfer.

Background

The ASR funding mechanism has been in place since SSC’s creation in 2011 to overcome the fact that there was no permanent budget source available to be transferred to SSC from partners who have revenue funded operations. As such, SSC has collected what is referred to as ‘ASR’ funds as annual revenue under its VNR authority.

In September 2011, the Treasury Board Secretariat instructed CSC to transfer a total of $43.5 million to SSC in Supplementary Estimates and the annual reference level update (ARLU) for ongoing costs related to CSC resources that were to be transferred to SSC.

CSC’s transfer to SSC was $43.3 million.

In fiscal year 2014 to 2015, the Privy Council Office (PCO) requested that SSC close and settle the remaining transfer amounts related to ASR.

For fiscal year 2014 to 2015 and ongoing, SSC sent an invoice in the amount of $234,373 to CSC for payment until a permanent transfer could take place.

The permanent transfer of remaining ASR funds from CSC will be included in the fiscal year 2022 to 2023 ARLU.

Office of Primary Interest

Samantha Hazen
Chief Financial Officer
Chief Financial Officer Branch
Shared Services Canada

Internal realignment with Shared Services Canada

Main Estimates: ($2,840,105) in 2022 to 2023

Funding profile

Table 14: Funding in fiscal year 2022 to 2023 (in millions of dollars)
Fiscal year 2022 to 2023
Main Estimates (2.8)

Summary

Shared Services Canada will realign funding within vote 1 due to the conversion of operating (decrease of $13.3 million) expenditures to personnel (increase of $10.5 million expenditures), resulting in an overall total decrease of $2.8 million to cover the cost of the employee benefits plan (27%).

Purpose of the realignment

SSC requires the conversion of operating funds to personnel funds in order to meet human resource requirements within the department.

Background

Human resource requirements

Internal Audit and Evaluation Team required the conversion of operating funds to personnel funds in order to:

Data Centre Services Branch required the conversion of operating funds to personnel funds in order to:

Chief Information Officer (CIO) required the conversion of operating funds to personnel funds in order to: reduce the dependency on consultants for operational activities and further stabilize the CIO organization with the right skills associated with evolving digital priorities.

Office of Primary Interest

Samantha Hazen
Chief Financial Officer
Chief Financial Officer Branch
Shared Services Canada

Transfer to Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat for the Greening Government Fund

Main Estimates: ($25,000) in 2022 to 2023

Transfer profile

Table 15: Funding in fiscal year 2022 to 2023 (in millions of dollars)
Fiscal year 2022 to 2023
Main Estimates (0.02)

Summary

Shared Services Canada is transferring $25,000 (vote 1—operating expenditures) in 2022 to 2023 to the Treasury Board Secretariat to support the Greening Government Fund (GGF), which funds projects which will reduce greenhouse gas emissions in federal government operations.

Purpose of the transfer

The GGF has been established as part of the Government of Canada’s response to climate change.

This initiative:

Once a contribution is made, a department can seek funding to the GGF for projects which achieve the objectives of the GGF.

Background

The TBS Centre for Greening Government sent a call letter to departments for expressions of interest for the GGF, inviting eligible departments to submit an application for funding.

Eligibility for funding is open to those departments who have contributed to the GGF. This includes departments who have generated more than 1 kiloton (KT) of GHG emissions per year from air travel or who have voluntarily contributed to the GGF.

The objectives of the GGF are to support and share the results of projects that will reduce GHG emissions in federal operations. The GGF seeks to fund projects that achieve at least 2 of the following:

Office of Primary Interest

Robert Ianiro
Assistant Deputy Minister
Enterprise IT Procurement and Corporate Services Branch
Shared Services Canada

Transfer to Treasury Board Secretariat for the Office of the Comptroller General’s Financial Community Developmental Plan and the inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility initiative

Main Estimates: ($18,056) in 2022 to 2023

Transfer profile

Table 16: Funding in fiscal year 2022 to 2023 (in millions of dollars)
Fiscal year 2022 to 2023
Main Estimates (0.02)

Summary

Transfer of $18,056 (vote 1—operating expenditures) in 2022 to 2023 from Shared Services Canada to the Treasury Board Secretariat for the Office of the Comptroller General’s (OCG) Financial Community Developmental Program and the inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility (IDEA) initiative.

Purpose of the transfer

The funding will allow for TBS to support and deliver enhanced and continuous development programs. TBS will also lead the inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility initiative within the financial management community, which is a priority for the public service.

Background

In order for the OCG to ensure that the leadership development needs are being met as the financial management community matures and the environment evolves, a costing model to support enhanced and continuous program delivery was developed and approved at the May 2021 Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Talent Management Advisory Committee (TMAC).

While TBS maintains the responsibility for program design and updates, additional funding will solidify capacity to deliver as costs increase, increase data analytics to support candidates, and enhance the referral process. It will also allow TBS to lead the financial management community on the IDEA initiative, which has become a priority for the public service.

Large departments and agencies (LDAs) help fund the renewal and delivery of development programs, which are delivered by the OCG on behalf of the GC financial management community.

LDAs also contribute to the additional resource (FI-04) within OCG that will be responsible for leading the implementation of IDEA strategic recruitment on behalf of the GC financial management community, and the integration of required changes to existing development programs.

Office of Primary Interest

Samantha Hazen
Chief Financial Officer
Chief Financial Officer Branch
Shared Services Canada

Reprofile for mission critical projects

Main Estimates: $24,285,028 in 2022 to 2023

Summary

Shared Services Canada is seeking to reprofile $24,285,028 (vote 1—operating expenditures) for mission critical projects.

Purpose of the reprofile

The reprofile of funds from fiscal year 2020 to 2021 will ensure that funds are available for SSC to achieve mission critical information technology project objectives and associated benefits for partner departments and the Government of Canada.

Background

In 2017, central agencies set the term “mission-critical” for a short list of essential IT projects that would be accelerated by program integrity funding announced in the fall economic statement 2017 and accessed in spring 2018. The list included 16 projects and the funding was to be managed as a flexible envelope as opposed to strict expenditure authority by project. SSC was permitted to make changes to the list of eligible projects with concurrence from enterprise governance. Since then, SSC has diligently managed this funding envelope, re-evaluating on an annual basis the individual project funding profile and allocation based on refined project costs.

SSC is seeking to reprofile a portion of the funding from the fall economic statement 2017 to support mission critical IT projects.

The reprofile from fiscal year 2020 to 2021 was requested to secure funds for the 2022 to 2023 fiscal year to ensure SSC achieved mission critical IT project objectives and associated benefits for partner departments and the Government of Canada.

SSC sought reprofiles for three mission-critical projects:

The pandemic directly affected the progress of these projects, which are technical in nature and require physical access to development laboratory as well as physical infrastructure sites.

The WCS project incurred delays and reductions in voice services modernization activities primarily as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic response and vendor delays in 2 key areas, first, with the WCS service readiness (required to demonstrate WCS requirements are met) and secondly, in the vendor’s inability to meet the planned number of voice services migrated. The pandemic impacted SSC’s ability to travel, access sites to conduct site surveys (required in advance of migration), and the vendor’s ability to execute migration of voice services.

The SIEM project has encountered delays. In total, the project is approximately 1 year behind schedule. SSC can attribute a 7 month delay to the procurement process as vendors were also focused on pandemic pressures and shifting their business to be fully virtual. Further, an additional 5 month unplanned delay to the joint engagement process between the project team and the Communications Security Establishment to revise and approve the project’s requirements and scope. Close integration between the CSE, who is undertaking the monitoring, and SSC, is essential to the success of the SIEM project.

For the SPfC project, access to the development laboratory was fully denied for almost 2 months, followed by access limited to only half the technical team at a time, resulting in a 7 month delay in completion of the development laboratory activities. Similarly, site visits to assess physical infrastructure were disrupted due to building closures and restricted access to facilities. SSC identified cyber projects as a critical priority, allowing the Operations Team to recommence site visits as of September 2020 and interrupted access again with the subsequent lock downs. SSC facilitated the project's progress so that commitments made by GC organizations could be in place by the end of the fiscal year.

Office of Primary Interest

Louis Paul Normand
(Senior) Assistant Deputy Minister
Project Management and Delivery Branch
Shared Services Canada

Reprofile for the secure communications for national leadership project

Main Estimates: $2,614,189 in 2022 to 2023

Funding profile

Table 17: Funding in fiscal year 2022 à 2023 (in millions of dollars)
Fiscal year 2022 to 2023
Main Estimates 2.6

Summary

Shared Services Canada is seeking to reprofile $2,614,189 (vote 1—operating expenditures) for the secure communications for national leadership (SCNL) project.

Purpose of the reprofile

The reprofile of funds from fiscal year 2021 to 2022, previously reprofiled from 2020 to 2021, is required as the use of funds under this project are dependant on the delivery of the smart phone for classified initiative. The SPfC service is currently planned to be operational in the last quarter of 2022 to 2023. The reprofiled funds are required to facilitate the migration of SCNL users to the enterprise SPfC service.

Background

Reprofile

The COVID-19 pandemic brought challenges. SSC and 43 partner departments, with whom SSC is intrinsically connected, redirected resources to support public servants working from home and services to Canadians. SSC fast-tracked digital elements to modernize government operations in an agile manner and successfully improved remote access, increased network capacity, and collaborative tools. Mixed national pandemic situations, responses, lock downs, and reduced production levels impacted SSC’s operations and spending plans.

External challenges related to vendors, who had to lock down and / or reduce their level of production, had a direct impact on SSC’s purchasing and spending plans. In addition, some COVID-19 pandemic financial pressures continued into fiscal year 2021 to 2022 adding to SSC’s funding pressures. For fiscal year 2021 to 2022, SSC’s efforts were refocused to continue on the delivery of new requirements and earlier established commitments that were deferred in whole or in part, thereby increasing the financial requirements and pressures on SSC’s existing resources.

The reprofiling of funds is required as the use of the funds under this TB submission is dependent on the delivery of the SPfC service. The SPfC service is currently planned to be operational in the last quarter of 2022 to 2023. The funds being reprofiled are required to facilitate the migration of SCNL users to the enterprise service. Until the SPfC service is operational, SCNL users cannot be transitioned and hence the funds from SCNL project cannot be effectively used. Additionally, SSC ongoing support only begins once all the PCO SCNL users are transitioned to SPfC.

Project

This initiative is led by the PCO in partnership with CSE and SSC.

Following the 2016 Budget, in which PCO received funding to undertake an initiative to enhance their security infrastructure, PCO—in partnership with CSE and SSC—established the SCNL project to provide national leaders access to secure communication technologies. The SCNL project has 4 phases and is currently in phase 3.

The SCNL project develops secure mobile phone capability to provide access to voice and text capabilities for national leaders. The initial SCNL investment indicated that SSC and CSE would re-align funding from SSC to CSE, as CSE requires to continue operations until such time as SSC is ready to assume full responsibility for the operation of the secure communication system (phase 4).

The agreement between CSE and SSC establishes an arrangement for the transfer of resources to continue to operate phase 1 of the SCNL project, complete and operate phase 2, update some of the phones, and provide PCO engineering support for phase 3. The resources will provide CSE with support for people, process and technology development during the completion of phase 2 and the ongoing operational responsibility of the project.

The SCNL project is a ‘proof of concept’ for an SSC initiative called smart phone for classified to provide a secure mobile solution expanded beyond senior officials which SSC will bring forward separately.

Office of Primary Interest

Patrice Nadeau
Assistant Deputy Minister
Network Security Services Branch
Shared Services Canada

Reprofile for the Innovative Solutions Canada Program

Main Estimates: $2,700,000 in 2022 to 2023

Reprofile funding

Table 18: Funding in fiscal year 2022 to 2023 (in millions of dollars)
Fiscal year 2022 to 2023
Main Estimates 2.7

Summary

Shared Services Canada is seeking to reprofile $2,700,000 (vote 1—operating expenditures) for the Innovative Solutions Canada (ISC) Program.

Purpose of the reprofile

The funds will serve to fulfill contractual payment obligations that have been established with private companies that are taking part in the Innovative Solutions Canada Program, a procurement program led by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada to promote the development and adoption of innovative technologies in Canada. This funding helps small businesses to develop novel ideas and to facilitate the eventual procurement of such solutions by the federal government.

Background

The reprofile was requested to ensure the availability of funds to meet SSC’s ISC mandate to support the Government of Canada’s innovation agenda. The ISC Program is structured in such a way that innovation challenges (under the ISC program), their resulting contracts, and associated deliverable timelines span multiple-fiscal years.

SSC has dedicated funding of $7.6 million annually, through a special purpose allotment (SPA), for the ISC Program.

Departments are not able to carry forward funds within the SPA, but can apply to the Department of Finance to reprofile.

Office of Primary interest

Matt Davies
Chief Technology Officer
Chief Technology Officer Branch
Shared Services Canada

Adjustments for multi-year initiatives and projects funding profile changes

Main Estimates: ($41,559,747) in 2022 to 2023

Adjusted funding

Table 19: Funding in fiscal year 2022 to 2023 (in millions of dollars)
Fiscal year 2022 to 2023
Main Estimates (41.6)

Summary

Shared Services Canada’s Main Estimates for certain multi-year initiatives has resulted in a total decrease of $41.6 million ($21.9 million vote 1—operating expenditures and a decrease of $19.7 million vote 5—capital) from the previous year’s Main Estimates.

Purpose

The Main Estimates variances are due to the variation in funding profiles, related to multi-year initiatives and/or projects where funding amounts changed, and/or adjustments made after approval, to align with the progress of each initiative.

Background

The workload migration decrease of ($44.1 million) is related to the Budget 2018 Workload Migration Program and Cloud Architecture Program time limited funding, which was from 2019 to 2020 to 2021 to 2022.

Multi-year funding is being received via the Budget 2021 Workload Modernization and Migration Program. In 2021 to 2022, funding of $10.0 million was received via the Supplementary Estimates (C) and in the 2022 to 2023 Main Estimates, $166.9 million will be received as new funding.

Office of Primary Interest

Samantha Hazen
Chief Financial Officer
Chief Financial Officer Branch
Shared Services Canada

Statutory appropriations

Main Estimates: $23,037,263 in 2022 to 2023

Statutory appropriations: Overview

Table 20: Funding in fiscal year 2022 to 2023 (in millions of dollars)
Fiscal year 2022 to 2023
Main Estimates 23.0

Summary

Shared Services Canada is seeking an increase to its statutory appropriations of $23,037,263 for contributions to employee benefit plans.

Purpose of the funding

This statutory funding is required to support changes in SSC’s full-time equivalent requirements for various initiatives and/or projects. Main Estimates statutory appropriations increased due to an increase in FTEs.

Background

The increase of $23.0 million is related to the EBP due to an increase in FTEs within the department. A breakdown of this adjustment is as follows:

Office of Primary Interest

Samantha Hazen
Chief Financial Officer
Chief Financial Officer Branch
Shared Services Canada

Net increase to the vote-netted revenue authority

Main Estimates: $122,122,168 in 2022 to 2023

Funding profile

Table 21: Funding in fiscal year 2022 to 2023 (in millions of dollars)
Fiscal year 2022 to 2023
Main Estimates 122.1

Summary

Shared Services Canada is seeking a net increase of its vote-netted revenue authority of $122,122,168 (vote 1—operating expenditures).

Purpose of the funding

SSC is required to provide specialized IT services to its customers and through the Shared Services Canada Act, allowing SSC to charge for services provided and be able to re-spend those revenues to offset expenditures arising from their provision in the same fiscal year.

The net increase in VNR authority is due to the continued increase in demand from partner organizations for IT investments and transformation aligned with the GC Digital Strategy, offset by a reduction due to the implementation of the GC IT enterprise service model.

Background

Vote-netted revenue increase ($285M)

The vote-netted authority for SSC’s services is established through specific vote wording in the annual appropriations acts. The Financial Administration Act sub-section 29.1 enables SSC to generate revenue for its services and the vote-netted authority enables SSC to re-spend the revenue received to offset the incremental costs incurred in the provision of services to partner departments.

The initial VNR authority of $665.0 million was established in 2018 to 2019 and, since then, SSC has been collecting more revenues than its authority due to the increase in demand and cost for IT services. In 2018 to 2019, 2019 to 2020 and 2020 to 2021, SSC respectively collected $683M (103%), $731M (110%) and $865M (130%).

SSC requested, via Supplementary Estimates C, an increase of $285.0 million in fiscal year 2021 to 2022 and 2022 to 2023 to increase total VNR authority to $950.0 million.

Enterprise service model vote-netted revenue decrease ($162.9M)

SSC was established in 2011 to help provide a more consistent approach to IT services. The creation of SSC centralized the provisioning of services, but it did not standardize them.

To move to an enterprise approach for managing IT services, the Government of Canada is implementing the GC IT ESM to enable enterprise IT-focused decision-making structures and processes, introduce enterprise IT service standards, enhance IT planning, and provide predictable and stable government IT infrastructure funding.

The implementation of the ESM will appropriate enterprise services to SSC, and continue cost recovery for department specific services. The net impact of these changes in funding will reduce SSC’s VNR, as SSC will no longer continue to cost recover for these services, and will require an offsetting increase in its appropriation.

The requirements for future years VNR authority will be revised in fiscal year 2022 to 2023 to assess the implications of the implementation of the ESM, the aftermath of the pandemic, and the historical increases in business requests.

Office of Primary Interest

Samantha Hazen
Chief Financial Officer
Chief Financial Officer Branch
Shared Services Canada

Document navigation for "Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates: April 29, 2022"

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